VAK liquidation causes uproar in Azerbaijani parliament

The liquidation of the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress (VAK) has caused uproar in the Azerbaijani parliament.

MP Zahid Oruj said in his speech that Russia’s move is inconceivable, stressing that the VAK liquidation is an Armenian victory over Russia. “I hope the cancellation of registration is not going to be possible,” he said.

Vice-Speaker Bahar Muradova noted that this is indicative of Russia’s attitude towards freedom of assembly and its citizens.

“We’re not promoting the Russian language and culture in Azerbaijan in order to please Russia. We’re merely demonstrating an adequate attitude towards anyone living here,” she said.

Muradova said it is wrong to go into details based on fantasies. “It is an internal affair of Russia, and it firstly liquidated the organization of its own citizens. But of course, it causes our concern,” she added.

The vice-speaker reacted harshly to Zahid Oruj’s remarks during her speech. “Zahid Oruj, would you let me talk?!”

Muradova went on to say that tolerance prevails in Azerbaijan, and representatives of all nations are treated with respect in the country.

“But of course, we would like to see the same attitude towards Azerbaijanis living in other countries. There are some circles in Russia that do not like Azerbaijanis,” said Muradova, calling the move to liquidate VAK a hostile position against Azerbaijan.

MP Gudrat Hasanguliyev in his turn noted that there will hardly ever be normal relations between Russia and Azerbaijan as long as Russia is with Armenians.

In his turn, MP Vahid Ahmadov noted that Russia is actually reluctant to recognize Azerbaijan’s independence

“At the same time, they don’t want to accept the independent policy of Azerbaijan’s head of state. As usual, Russia is kind of threatening Azerbaijan. We need to be ready for this. Still, we should not change the attitude towards Russian-speaking people in Azerbaijan. We must be careful about it lest some use this matter against our country,” he added.